No Longer Pure, No Longer Here
by Creativity's Loyal Servant
Summary: The young heiress, Weiss Schnee, is found dead in her own home after being found by her cook. With the mourns of her parents, the Achieve Men is called up into the scene to achieve justice in this crime. With the best detectives on the job, Michael Jones and Gavin Free, can the two be able to solve this mysterious murder? Tune in daily [hopefully] for more!
1. A Snowy Winter Morning Tainted Crimson

Chapter 1: A Snowy Winter Morning Tainted Crimson

The frosty cold wind swept into the snow littered streets where snowflakes of different shapes and sizes fell to the frozen asphalt ground. Children squealed as they ran helter-skelter to duck away from pelting snowballs of others while some kids had decided to make something creative; the usual snow angels on the fluffy white snow and the generic Frosty the Snowman that had charcoal for its eyes and buttons and a carrot stuck to the middle of its face for its nose. A handful of children were daring enough to sneak out their father's top hat to prop on top of Frosty's cold head, to which their father had let out a yell of surprise as to where his hat had ended up. The adults, who were dragged outside by their children, immediately rushed back into the comfort of their warm and sheltered homes while their children continued their frivolous play out in their winter wonderland. All was at peace and everyone was happy.

That was until a piercing scream resounded in the household of famous Schnees, ringing out through the entire household and alerting those who were in it. Tearing down the winding steps and throwing themselves unceremoniously into the dining room where the source of the shriek had come from, the members of the Schnee family line and the maids could only stare in horror.

Lying spread-eagled on the varnished wooden floor, the young heiress of the Winter Productions of no older than seventeen was sprawled in a pool of her own life fluids that covered nearly a quarter of the dining room area. Her once sparkling yet cold icy blue eyes were now dull and empty of any sort of life; yet somehow managing to retain that small spark of shock in her eyes. It was almost as if she could wake up from this stupor and shoot a haughty look at the rest of them before stalking off into her room.

That wasn't the case, unfortunately.

The plump cook, who had bustled into the dining room to prepare today's breakfast came only to find the corpse of the girl, had tears overflowing down to the floor, mixing with the blood that stained the floor. Her mother could only quietly weep into her palms and mourn the death of her daughter; blaming herself for not having been there to save her from whoever that killed her.

Her father, who was only unsympathetic due to the business company, only stiffened at the sight before he turned on his heel to walk to the landline that perched on a nearby cupboard.

Gingerly picking the phone from the receiver as if it was a bomb that could explode any moment; he dialed up the phone number that he had ingrained in his mind before tucking the phone to his ear to speak upon the other end.

"Hello? Yes, there has." The man spoke devoid of any kind of emotion. "This is Richard Schnee from the Winter Productions, and I would like you to send your best men on the job. My daughter, Weiss Schnee… has been killed."


	2. Enter, The Achieve Men

Chapter 2: Enter; The Achieve Men

A phone rang somewhere in the depths of the busy and noisy office department; fingers clacking away at keyboards at different speeds resounded with the rhythm of files being reshuffled again. After two prominent consecutive rings in an office room, the phone clicked off the receiver and was finally answered.

"Hello, this is Geoff Ramsey from Achieve Men speaking, is there a case you would like us to solve?" the thirty five year old man with a bushy moustache and tattooed sleeves leaned back in his sleek comfy black chair.

Geoff 'Lazer' Ramsey was the boss and creator of the detective group, 'Achieve Men'. After being a veteran in war for five years, he decided to retire off and create a group that would achieve justice for society. He had dark brown hair with a thick mustache and stubble covering his chin that matched with his coffee brown eyes. He had an array of tattoos that began from his wrists to his shoulder blades; all of them in a different variety of wonderful colours and drawings. In a glance, a person would deduce him as someone burly and dangerous, and if they had known that he was a war veteran, that would add on to the fear meter. But really, Geoff was just a man with a heart of gold who wanted to ensure peace and harmony among the community.

The man from the other end of the phone muttered something monotonously into the phone.

"Our best men?" Geoff said, leaning further back into his chair; eyebrows furrowing from being confused.

No one that he knew would ask for their best men unless it involved something extremely important, like a personal murder case, but even that was for those who had a higher class than others. And if anyone tried to be funny and pull a prank, Geoff would easily see through the lie and growl a warning at the person, to which if they were smart enough, immediately apologised.

And if those still had the audacity to joke around… it didn't end up too good.

"And may I ask what your case is before I deploy my men?" the boss asked with a hint of suspicion and a tone of concern.

More words.

"Ah… I see. Alright, we'll be over there shortly, just give us a couple of minutes." He said before replacing the phone back to its rightful place and strutting out of his personal office.

Geoff walked down towards the end of the hallway, his coat tails flying behind as he took long big strides towards his destination. Resting his hand on the door knob before twisting it, he opened the door to the break room where three men were laughing as they drank their cold beer nabbed from the mini fridge.

"Michael, Gavin, we have a murder case that requires your presence and attention." Geoff announced, beckoning the two men sitting together on the couch to come along. "Sorry Ray, but I'll need to take them for quite some time."

"Ah, it's no problem. While I like to have Team Lads in action, Gavin gets kinda dumb sometimes when he blanks out and Mr. I-Rage-Quit-Life-All-The-Time can really injure my ear drums sometimes." The man donning a black pair of glasses rested his elbow on the armrest with a sigh.

Ray Narvaez Jr. was one of Geoff's younger recruits into the team. He's very well known in the office for being fond of red roses [Geoff once walked into Ray's office only to find him sleeping in his chair with red petals scattered all around the room.] and a strange hatred for cakes. Putting those quirky attributes aside, Ray was the detective who would act as a spy for hunting down criminals. He was one for blending into the crowds, what with jet black hair and stubble making him look like a teenager who liked to mess around with things. And even if he was found out, he was nimble enough to get away or catch the mastermind of each crime, if he was assigned to the job.

But he had an obnoxious habit of saying 'YOLO!' every time he was found out before he sprinted away from the criminal or after him.

"Aw, X-Ray! That was mean of you, you donut!" the lanky man with dirty blonde hair chirped up with a British accent from his slouched position on the couch. 

Gavin David Free wasn't one of the brightest in the office. With his goofy British ways and accent, he was often the joker in the entire department, having been laughed at countless times for his silly stunts and made-up words. [To which he responds that they _are_ real in England, only to be ask to shut the fuck up by his fellow workers, mainly Michael.] He was well known for tripping over thin air sometimes and annoying the hell out of everyone. One would wonder why a clumsy person like him would be in the Achieve Men, since Geoff only accepted the very best and talented people of the lot.

That's where his amazing ability for scavenging and hunting for evidence came in. He could spot evidence from the smallest of places without any trouble in mere seconds.

"Yeah, but maybe if you would stop using your fucking 'Gavin-lingo' that we would be nicer to you, dumbass." The bespectacled man with russet curls snapped playfully at him before jabbing Gavin's side, instantly making Gavin let out a squawk of surprise.

Michael Vincent Jones was a hot and short tempered man who could yell so many colourful profanities that one would applaud at. But he wasn't taken in by Geoff just because of that, oh no. He had the strength to rival with Geoff's when it came to handling criminals; swift with the pistol and his fists. Not only that, but he had a refined way of analyzing situations, imagining each scene that happen with each new evidence that is presented to him. He was one of the best men in the office, always well suited for any sort of case at any time. He was very willing to give up his own time for the sake of helping society, as he would always say. But his attitude was one that was very prominent; even with him speaking jokingly with anyone else; some swear words would find its way into his lips and out his mouth.

That didn't seem very evident from his somewhat chubby face that had patches of freckles everywhere and the russet curls that frames his face.

"Alright, alright, quit fooling around, lads. I know it hurts a lot for you guys to be broken away from Team Lads," Geoff's words dripped with sarcasm as he rolled his eyes. "But we have a case to get onto. Chop, chop peeps!" he said, ushering Gavin and Michael up.

The Team Lads was another one of the teams that the Achieve Men had made when they work together on different cases. Team Lads were the younger detectives together, that being Michael, Gavin and Ray. There were many others, like Team Nice Dynamite, Team Crazy Mad and Team Love and Stuff ["A real dumb name made by the one and only fucking British man here" Michael commented on that with a huff.]. It was Gavin who started the whole thing on teams; starting off with X-Ray and Vav; Ray and Gavin.

Then everything had just exploded on team names.

"But _Geoff_!" Gavin whined, prolonging the last syllable in his boss's name.

"Vav, just chill the fuck out man. X-Ray's going to be just sitting here and making it rain roses until you come back." The Puerto Rican chuckled, kicking back and relaxing.

"Ray," Geoff said at a levelled tone as he pushed the two wanted detectives out of the lounge. "I swear to God, if I come back and see the whole god damn office filled with roses, I'm not going to cut your salary, but I'll pay you in cakes instead."

And with the shut of the door behind him, Geoff swore he could hear a shrill yell of "_Nooo!_"


	3. The Case of Weiss Schnee - Case Commence

Chapter 3: The Case of Weiss Schnee - Murder Case Commence

With the trio buckled up in the black and green car that donned the Achieve Men logo on both its sides, Geoff revved up the engine for the third time. They would have probably already reached to their destination and got half of the evidence tracking down had Gavin not been an absolute idiot by forgetting all the equipment and their notebooks for jotting down evidence. Geoff nearly slammed his head onto the steering wheel when Gavin realised he forgot the camera when they were already _half way _there. Grinding his teeth hard all the way back to the office, he growled at the British man that if he didn't get his fucking ass back in the car in two minutes, he'll never see the light of day ever again.

To be fair, Geoff was being nice to Gavin. The twenty six year old British man couldn't imagine if _Michael_ was the one who started screaming at him. Probably wouldn't end well at all, the lad thought as he nearly tripped over his untied shoelaces bringing the camera back to the car.

The freckled man nearly screamed of relief when the car finally pulled into the driveway of a huge mansion. Giving a moment for Geoff to exit the car and walk towards the golden embossed door, Michael spun around on the leather seat to smack Gavin on the head to release his pent up anger before exiting the car. The man let out a somewhat raspy giggle as Gavin glared out from inside the car, flipping the bird at his partner while his face was plastered on the glass. The russet haired man simply gave a grin before returning the same gesture nonchalantly before walking towards where his superintendent was.

From what Michael could see from over Geoff's shoulder, he was talking to a rather plump looking woman wearing a plain brown dress with an apron over it. Her face was streaked with tear stains; eyes blood-shot from all the crying she probably did.

'A cook, from the looks of her.' Michael thought, staring at sniffling woman as she attempted to swipe away at any stray tears. 'A person who very dearly took care of the victim… that's a pity.' he exhaled through his nose with an air of sympathy as he took another step forward into an area where he could hear their conversation.

"Please... just do anything to find out who killed the heiress. She isn't cold hearted like all the other people have said. She didn't deserve any of this at all!" the cook raised her voice near the end, causing a crack in her voice before she began her repetitive hiccupping and sniffing.

'It's time to speak up.' He said, with a small pitying smile before he stepped aside from Geoff's back and placing a hand on his boss' shoulder.

"Not to worry, madam." Michael assured soothingly. "We promise we will do everything to hunt for the culprit. Without a doubt." He gave a nod, chocolate eyes shining with a fire of determination.

The cook blinked before giving a watery but genuine smile, more tears beginning to form at the corner of her eyes.

"T-Thank you, sir. The… heiress is in the dining room." She sniffled before running off into the depths of the household, possibly to calm herself down from the terrible event that had unfolded on this wintery morning.

Geoff turned to Michael to give a small grateful smile at his actions before flicking his head towards the black and green car that was parked in front of the stairs, where Gavin was struggling with getting all the equipment from the boot. The inspector's smile faded away, replacing with a mix of a frown and a scowl.

"Oi, dumbass! Pick up the pace! It's bad enough you delayed us back at the office for almost an hour, so hurry the fuck up!" he yelled, tapping his foot impatiently and crossing his arms.

"Then stop being an absolute nob and help me out here! All this equipment is bloody heavy, if you arseholes don't know!" Gavin shouted back, almost dropping the silver box containing all the fragile forensic equipment.

Key word; fragile.

"Gavin, you dumb shit! You're going to fuck up all the equipment before we can even get to the fucking crime scene!" Michael screeched before running towards the British lad to help him before any fuck ups could happen.

Geoff gave out a loud groan before heading inside to start off without the two idiots that he hired. Why did he even hire them in the first place? Sure, they were talented, but God, were they absolute dickheads sometimes. Especially when the two of them were together on a case like this.

And so the mystery murder case begins; the hunt for the murderer of Weiss Schnee.

"_GAVIN, DON'T DROP THE FUCKING CAMERA- OH MY __**FUCKING GOD**__!_"

… This was going to be a long day.


	4. Scattered Rose Petals that Gleam Gold

Chapter 4: Scattered Rose Petals that Gleam Gold

"Alright then, boys," Geoff announced as he snapped on his rubber gloves rather loudly and turned to the two detectives with a glower. "Let's get to work, shall we?"

With a stiff nod from both of them, Michael and Gavin went their separate ways in the room; Michael heading towards every nook and cranny of the dining room while Gavin kneeled next to the corpse to examine it, the cracked camera gingerly held in his hands.

Well, at least the camera was still usable.

They seriously didn't want to mess with their boss right now after Gavin decided to goof up and crack the camera lens which had Michael yell at him before tackling him. It probably would have been seen as a playful fight, had Michael not accidentally socked the Brit in the nose, which had let out a small crack. ["It was a fucking accident, alright?!" Michael repeated, as Gavin glared at him as he clutched his bloody nose with an equally bloody tissue.]

Let's just say that Geoff wasn't too amused by their behaviour when he managed to separate the two after sporting a rapidly bruising stomach by the courtesy of Gavin.

The superintendent left the room with a billow of his coat to question the other people in the household, such as the victim's mother, father and possibly any other maids or butlers he could come across. Anyone could be a culprit after all. The heiress's father could have killed her and point the blame to anyone he was rivaled with.

So until they had solid evidence, anyone could be a murderer right now.

With the same type of white latex gloves on, Gavin carefully scoured the corpse for any other injuries apart from the obvious bloody rapier that stuck out from the victim's abdomen. The blood was congealing, but was slightly moist from what the British man could see. According to Michael, from the state of the blood, she had been dead for around five hours. He moved steadily around the body as to not disrupt any vital evidence that could be used in solving the crime. Leaning closer to the body, from what he could see, the heiress's left hand was bruising pretty badly, swelling into black, blue and purple. Clutching the chipped camera in his hands, he squinted at through the crack camera lens before snapping three to four shots of the injury. Not long after he stood up and backed away from the body and took a full view of the deceased girl, frowning slightly.

"So, any unusual signs on the corpse or around the crime scene?" Michael strutted up to Gavin, one hand stuffed in his pocket, fumbling for a pencil while his other held a small black notebook. "So far, there's nothing suspicious around the room; no trace of hair, footprints, fingerprints or other blood splatters. Nothing seems to be out of place in this area too." The twenty seven year old man huffed, before scribbling something into his notes.

"Well, there's a bruise on the girl's wrist; does that count as something suspicious?" Gavin said as he took a closer look at the rapier encrusted with vital fluids.

"Gavin, every piece of evidence or something out of place is suspicious." Michael deadpanned before flicking his head towards the corpse. "Other than the obvious gaping wound made by the weapon, is there any other imprints made by the murderer?"

Gavin's sapphire orbs narrowed, slowly scanning every inch of the rapier before his gaze shifted to the victim's clothes. His eyes locked in on what looked like yellowish liquid stains upon the pure white dress, with some residue of those droplets. Clicking open the silver box next to him and extracting a dropper and a tiny container especially for urine or poison, he edged oh-so-closely to the liquid and retracting the liquid into the dropper before inserting it into the uncapped the container.

"This." He stood up as he screwed back the cap back to the container as he shook the little of the yellow liquid. "From what the little information that Ryan told me when I messed with his stuff in his lab, this could be arsenic, since the liquid poison doesn't evaporate in the air."

Pulling out a zip-lock bag as he said that, he placed the poison container into the bag before zipping it up.

"It could be the weapon to the entire crime instead of the rapier."

James Ryan Haywood was one of the elder workers in Achieve Men. Being known for his wide range of knowledge of bones, the human and animal structure, but mostly poisons and toxins, he is constantly seen in the lab either experimenting with different substances or dissecting organs or dead animals. The crew has no idea where he gets the dead animals, but they do know that Ryan has a fondness of calling animals he cuts up 'Edgar'. With his crazed ways, he was nicknamed as the 'Mad King'. As a joke, Michael likes to call him 'Rye bread' because 'Ry' was just too plain.

"But didn't Ryan say that arsenic in huge amounts causes vomiting and all that shit? She should have at least puked all over the floor before she died." Michael interjected, crossing his arms and leaning against the wall.

"Well, one way to find out." The lad said as he casually tossed the bag into the box and shut it. "We'll send it to Ryan and ask Jack to pick up the corpse." The twenty six year old continued before getting out his notepad and jotting down the list of evidence found.

Jack Shannon Pattillo was the pathologist of the Achieve Men. As much as Geoff knew that Ryan was slightly better off at examining corpses and determining the cause of deaths, he had the tendency of going deeper than needed, and with the amount of work he has to do in his laboratory, he signed Jack up for the job. He had work similar to this in his past, so he was familiar with his tools and what to do. But with Jack working in the lab as much as Ryan, the others normally get confused when they converse with them while their attention is directed to files or evidence, since both men's voices sound very alike.

And with that, they formed Team Same Voice, as suggested by Geoff and Gavin. [which made up Plan G]

"Oi, dumbasses!" Rang out their boss's voice from the hallway next to the dining room. "Into the hall right now!"

With a sigh from Michael, who had brought out his sleek white IPhone and was just about to call Jack to inform him about the cadaver, he pocketed the device again before gesturing at Gavin to follow behind.

"Guess we'll have to deal with that later." The dirty blonde haired man mumbled before trudging to where Geoff and two other girls stood next to him.

Geoff stood there with a frown on his face; his weight shifted on his left leg and his other foot tapped impatiently onto the wooden boards of the mansion with his arms crossed, displaying the beautiful array of inked tattoo sleeves that were uncovered by his coat's sleeves that were scrunched up to his elbow. He gave the two a quick glance at the girls for them to look over at the girls next to him.

The taller of the two girls had long shining golden locks that curled at the end of each tip, bright lavender eyes dancing with a fiery anger. Her position mirrored the superintendent's, with the exception of the rhythmic taps of her feet. Her brown leather jacket was worn over an orange singlet that showed a slight bit of her cleavage, matching with a scarf that hung loosely down her front. Her creamy brown knee-length pants were creased from her figure, and looked as if the girl had thrown it on in a hurry to get here.

The younger one had jet black hair which quickly fades into a dark red at the ends of her locks. Her eyes held nearly the same dullness as the victim, every now and then having a small flicker of life entering her silverfish white orbs. Her light pink hoodie hugged at her body with the hood almost shadowing her face completely. The girl's eyes were down casted, fingers fidgeting with the belt that secured her pale blue jeans from getting loose. Nervous; definitely nervous.

"So… who exactly are these two and what are they doing here?" Michael questioned; flicking his thumb towards the teenagers with a raise of his eyebrow and a glance to his boss.

"We could ask the very same thing to you too, asshole." the blonde girl snapped back, her hands clenching into fists, knuckles rapidly turning a ghostly white.

The shorter one firmly placed a hand on the other's shoulder, giving it a squeeze as she looked to the lilac eyed girl with a shake of her head.

"Yang… don't do that. They were trying to find out who killed Weiss… our roommate, classmate; our _best friend_."

Silver orbs held a pleading look as the girl biting her lip nervously.

Almost instantly, the girl now known as Yang stopped glaring and blinked before her eyes softened into a look of regret and sorrow. She let out a long sigh before ruffling the top of the younger one's head and giving a gaze of apology to the three investigators.

"Sorry… I didn't really mean to snap back." She gently patted the black haired girl on the head before resting the hand lightly there. "It's just that… we didn't expect this to happen. Weiss was one of our friends, and even though she was an asshole-"

"Yang."

"Sorry, sis. Even though… we didn't get off to the right foot in the start…" Yang rubbed the nape of her neck as she moved her gaze to look at the varnished wooden floor. "None of us would hate her. And for this to just happen out of nowhere…" the blonde simply shook her head from disbelief. "It seems so surreal."

Geoff placed a sympathetic and reassuring hand on Yang's shoulder.

"I'm sorry for your loss, kid. But that's what we're here for; to find out the culprit and sentence them to what they deserve." His expression hardened to a scowl, thinking about the ignorant people in the world that gave no fucks about others. "We'll promise to allow you guys to get a good look at the murderer before beating the shit out of him." He growled, mustache twitching in slight anger.

"Geoff." Michael spoke out firmly, with a frown plastered on his face.

The boss snapped out of his trance before backing off with a sorry look on his face.

"Ah, sorry." He rubbed the back of his head. "I'm a father of a single daughter; I get overprotective over my kid and other children." Geoff gave a nervous smile before shrugging.

Yang waved it off before putting out her hand.

"We're even. The name's Yang Xiao Long, a.k.a the Little Sun Dragon from my other friends." She flirtatiously winked as she bended down so slightly to give a lusty flair as she stuck out her hand.

Geoff smirked as he grabbed the girl's hand and shook it hard.

"Geoff Ramsey. These dumbasses are my workers. The one with the dorky British accent is Gavin and the one with the freckles all over his face is Michael." He responded nonchalantly as he released his grip from hers.

"That wasn't very nice! It's my mother tongue!" Gavin protested, with a look of absolute disbelief on his face.

"_That twasn't very noice!_" Michael mimicked him with a false horrible British accent before knocking Gavin on the back of the head. "Maybe if you'd speak some fucking English, people would understand you. No one understands your 'Gavin' language and your made up words!" He nearly yelled at him, remembering that there are still people who are expecting them to do their work rather than joke around.

Yang gave out a hearty laugh in a long time of today, before slapping her sister's back with a force that nearly knocked her forward and to the floor. Fortunately, her elder sister pulled her back onto her feet before patting her shoulder.

"This is my little sister, Ruby Rose. And if you assholes think of hurting a single hair on my dear sister's head," her voice darkened and dripped of threats and murder. "I'll make sure you'll have something else to worry about other than your detective work."

Gavin let out a squeak before giving a soldier salute, followed by a 'Yes, madam!' while Geoff stiffened from the blonde's glare she gave and nodded quickly. Michael just simply snorted before letting out a noise of agreement and what sounded like, 'Fucking morons'.

"Right, right." Geoff says, breaking out of his stupor and fishing for something in his coat pocket. "While you assholes were making a hell of a ruckus in the dining room," he pulled out a satin black ribbon in a zip-lock bag. "Richard Schnee, that's the victim's father, found this inside of Weiss's room. I went up there to look after he handed it to me, but there were no signs of a struggle or any evidence there. Said he didn't hear any kind of disturbances during the period that his daughter was killed." He shrugged before gingerly giving it for Michael and Gavin to peer closer at it.

Ruby gave a gasp of realisation and Yang's lavender eyes widened in shock.

"What?" Michael stated a one word question before holding it up for the two to see. "Do you recognize something from this ribbon?"

With a gulp, the younger sister nodded slowly, eyes filled with horror. Yang mirrored her, even grabbing the bag and bringing it to her sight to confirm it for sure.

"No way…" she mumbled out before she unknowingly shoved the zip-lock bag to Gavin's chest, giving a grunt as he grasped the thing in his hands once again.

"Girls…" Geoff started, walking closer to them. "Does this accessory belong to someone you know?" he narrowed his eyes slightly in a questioning manner, one that was devoid of suspicion or accusation.

There was a long period of silence, before Ruby spoke up with a stutter.

"Y-Yeah. Her name's Blake Belladona, who was formerly in the White Fang Theatre Productions." Ruby fidgeted with her fingers before continuing after some time. "She and Weiss had their fights every now and then because of that, but they always apologized afterwards for their actions."

Before the superintendent could open his mouth, she handed over a slip of paper containing Blake's address and number.

"I know… you might think she's the culprit." She began with a nervous tone. "But… please, take it easy on her…" she continued, voice cracking slightly.

Yang brought her little sister to her chest and hugged her tight as Ruby buried herself into her elder sister's arms. The blonde gradually looked up, with what looked like regret on her face.

"What Ruby means is… Blake's our best friend from school too."


	5. Back on Track

Chapter 5: Back on Track

"I didn't kill her. If that's what you're trying to say."

Michael let out a frustrated groan as he ran his hand over through his russet curls, gripping them briefly because _fucking God; she won't admit anything, will she?!_ The 27 year old wanted to slam his head onto the desk and wring the fucking life out of her, because she was clearly unwilling to give any evidence or anything of the matter to help with the crime. His fingers drummed repetitively on the wooden table as he ran through his mind on what the hell he should do next.

And all this time, the girl with wavy black hair and piercing yellowish eyes stared back at him, crossing her arms as the ribbon on her head twitched as if it were cat ears, signifying her annoyance for him.

"I'm going to repeat this one more time…" the detective growled, face red from exasperation as he pulled out the zip-lock bag with the ribbon and shook it in front of her face. "This is your ribbon, _right_?"

She pushed away the bag, a scowl forming on her face after the many times he had questioned her that one question.

"No, it isn't. You said the ribbon was _satin_, right?" she emphasised the word 'satin'. "All my ribbons are _silk_, as I've repeated the moment you barged into my house and started asking questions." Blake narrowed her eyes in distaste.

Well, that was half-true.

Michael had actually taken a cab to the given address by Ruby and knocked on Blake's door. Almost immediately when the door had opened, he introduced himself briefly to her before asking if he could come in and question her. To which she gave a raise of her eyebrows and led him to the living room, where he immediately bombarded her with questions.

Blake Belladona was a person that was hard to read, to be honest, even for Michael himself. With her cat-like eyes that held nothing but a blank expression and sometimes a flicker of emotions, she listened intently to each question and answered them with short brief answers.

From the documents he had, apparently Blake was a former member of the White Fang Theatre Productions. The company had rivaled with the Winter Productions, and so created a tension between them. According to the interviewee, she and Weiss had got off to a bad start at first, but had eventually forgiven each other.

She wouldn't give any more information other than that.

And it infuriated Michael so fucking much.

"Isn't silk and satin the same fucking material?" he spat annoyed, uncaring of his language anymore.

"Silk is made natural from silk worms while satin is synthetically made from other materials, so no matter if it uses silk or nylon, it's artificial! The fibres of a silk and satin ribbon would be different!" she snaps back, rolling her eyes.

"Well, I'm fucking sorry for not being an expert in a field I don't even fucking work in!" he stands up, in a rage, veins pulsing through his neck.

"That's one of the basic information you at least have to know for a detective, imbecile." She hisses back, teeth bared.

Michael slams his hands on the table, a fire of fury dancing in his eyes.

"Listen here, motherfucker," he points a finger at the person he was interrogating, who stared back at him in equal anger. "Unless you have proof that you didn't fucking kill her, you're going to have to come with me to the police station."

"And I told you that I was studying with Weiss in the library at 6 p.m. yesterday! I didn't even go to her house when we parted ways!" she counters back, gesturing her hands wildly.

"A witness that's dead means nothing, and your witness is the victim too!" he snarls, extending an open hand. "You have no fucking proof unless you hand me one of the ribbons you have!"

"_Then take it_!" she retorts back, throwing the ribbon from her hair with frustration.

"You little motherfucker-"

_Beep, beep!_

As he stuffs the ribbon he acquired from the girl angrily as he flips out his phone and answers it with a snarl.

"_What the fuck do you want?!_" he growled, turning away from the former member of the White Fang.

A pause.

"Wait… a witness?" his face morphs into that of confusion before leaning back in his chair. "He witnessed the crime? And you caught a poison dealer? Mm… okay. I'll be right there."

He clicks the 'End Call' button before he gets up without another word and leaves the house quietly.

Blake just simply stares after him as a realisation occurred in her mind.

"The only person who has satin ribbons is… no, it can't be… right?"

The wind blows softly through the foliage of the trees, whistling as silence reigned through the household of the Belladonas.


	6. A Change of Plan

Chapter 6: A Change of Plan

The moment Michael had burst through the laboratory doors with his coat billowing behind; he had caught sight of Jack, Ryan and Gavin talking to each other as he walked towards them. The trio had heard the door slam open, and had stopped their chatting before turning to stare at Michael.

"You're finally here, you mong!" Gavin burst out, giving Michael a hug. "You were supposed to be here ages ago!"

"Gavin, fuck off for a minute, okay?" the freckled man gently pushes the British lad off him as he nods his head to Ryan and Jack. "So, where's the dealer and the witness?"

"They're in the interrogation room that you just passed." Jack replied nonchalantly as he places a hand on Michael's shoulder before he smacks his palm to his face and stalks off mumbling profanities. "But we need to give you the data report on the body."

Ryan flicks over some papers on his clipboard before putting on his reading spectacles and clears his throat.

"So beginning with the poison analysis…" Ryan declares before presenting the information that was scrawled onto the paper. "Gavin was right when he assumed the liquid was arsenic…" he gives a chuckle as Gavin yells out 'Achievement of the Day!' "But to be exact, this particular type of arsenic is called arsenic trichloride." His expression turned into that of a serious one. "It can either be a colorless or yellowish substance, reacting with water and giving out extremely toxic fumes in the moist air."

"But then how on bloody Earth did the culprit manage to not poison themselves, or anyone in the household?" the 26 year old man points out, crossing his arms as he awaited for his answer.

"The murderer might have used a cloth and poured the substance on it before placing it over the victim's mouth." Ryan rubs his chin thoughtfully before glancing at his clipboard again. "He or she could have worn a gas mask to block out the gases, but I'm pretty unsure of how they got it out."

"The dining room was pretty ventilated, you know, with the number of windows that were there." Michael recalled, raising a finger up as he recalled the memory. "So perhaps the toxic fumes got out through there quite easily, what with the murderer probably fanning the poisoned air out." He shrugged as he pictured the scene in his head.

"That's…" Ryan thought about it before looking at Michael straight in his eyes. "That's a good analysation. Good job." The forensic scientist said as he pulled out a pen and scribbled out that little note.

"Okay, so." Jack presented his own notebook with his neat handwriting in it. "The autopsy and all that shit. Uh, with the examination of the body and all that shit, there's actually a slight bruising on the victim's neck as well as a fractured left wrist; the same hand that the victim used to fight with her rapier. And as Ryan mentioned…" he flips through some pages before stopping. "There are traces of poison in the systems, and looking closely, the organs have shut down long before the weapon had actually pierced the abdomen." He pushed his glasses up his nose to prevent it sliding of his nose.

"So she really did die from the poison… hmm." Michael let out a noise of wistfulness before turning on his heel, waving his hands. "That's all I need. Thanks for the information."

And with his coat billowing behind, he exited the room.

~x-x-x- The Poisoned Red Rose x-x-x~

The man of seventeen years flinched as the door creaked open in the interrogation room; his hackles raised on the back of his neck as the investigator nonchalantly walked and took a seat in front of him. Sea blue orbs locked on the russet haired man, who leaned closer before looking at him dead in the eye.

"So," Michael flipped through a file with the cover written in black bold letters of 'Jaune Arc' before stopping at a brief biography of the man in front of him. "Jaune Arc, I presume?"

"Y-Yes." The blonde had immediately stuttered out as he jerked himself to sit as straight as a rod.

"Right. Now according to my boss, Geoff Ramsey, who interviewed you, I'd say, half an hour ago," Hazel eyes flickered to examine the boy's face in detail. "You had heard the events of the murder on that night?"

"Y-Yeah… but it would be better if I had actually saw the whole thing, though." He exhaled through his nostrils before feeding a hand through his straw coloured hair.

"Yes, but information is information, and for us, information and evidence is always the key to solving a crime. So be it the most minor piece of evidence, we'd still like to examine it very closely." Michael pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose before leaning back in his chair nonchalantly. "Take your time to begin, Jaune."

And with that, Jaune relaxed on his tense figure before clearing his throat to begin.

* * *

So, hey! I don't really leave an Author's Note around because I find it a little bit troublesome for me to put it in with the story when I already put it in the Doc Manager. But anyway!

I seriously apologise for the lack of updates; I've been having writer's block and


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